Deni’s drag race star

The vehicle includes 418 cubic inch Chev small block engine that runs at 620HP.

When he first started, Plant mainly stuck to drag racing on two wheels on his motorbike.

But over the last three years it’s been his run with Psycho Therapy that has been the most enjoyable for him.

‘‘We named it Psycho Therapy because you’ve got to be a little psycho to want to drive a drag car,’’ he said with a laugh.

‘‘It keeps the mind active with the adrenaline rush and concentration it takes to race.

‘‘I absolutely love it. It becomes a disease, once you’re hooked you can’t get enough of it.

‘‘My car goes from zero to 100km/h in 1.4 seconds so the launch is quite brutal.

‘‘It was actually quite daunting the first time I raced it, because it’s a handful to drive.

‘‘But with the help of my amazing crew with their packing of the parachute, we’ve managed to go incident free so far.’’

Plant had taken a few years off from drag racing due to a lack of accessibility to tracks.

His passion was re-ignited three years ago after the Swan Hill Dragway was built, giving him access to a drag track closer to home.

The Deni drag racer has had quick success on the new track, setting a personal best time of 7.82 seconds over a quarter mile.

It was at Swan Hill that he also had a personal best competition, finishing as runner-up at the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars event in March.

‘‘It was the biggest event they’ve hosted and was certainly the biggest I’ve been involved in,’’ Plant said.

‘‘I managed to make it in the final but I flinched just that little bit in the final race and it cost me.

‘‘I didn’t expect to make it so far. I only really do it as a hobby so it was great to place so high.

‘‘My most recent race day was over the Easter weekend at Mildura and I was eliminated early.

‘‘I was actually knocked out of the competition by the guy who I eliminated in the first round of the Swan Hill event. We had a laugh and he said he didn’t expect he’d be able to race against me again.

‘‘A lot of people probably don’t realise how much time and money goes into something like this and I wouldn’t be able to do it without my crew.’’

Plant’s crew includes Brian O’Neill, Richie and Ben Leetham, Mick Hurley (from Port Augusta) and his daughter Rhian Plant.

‘‘Brian is a huge part of the whole thing, I wouldn’t have bought the car without him,’’ he said.

‘‘Mick helps out with a lot of the work on the computer and travels a very long way to come to all the race meetings.

‘‘There’s a lot of teamwork involved in drag racing and I’ve put together an outstanding crew.

‘‘I’m also hopeful of picking up sponsors for the next season, which starts late August.

‘‘At the moment I finance myself and it’s quite an expensive sport to be involved in.’’